Single Parents
by YAJJ
Summary: Takato has to live a secret life, a life with close to no food and no luxuries. Despite that, Kari tries her hardest to keep her little brother with her. After all, he could be taken away by Social Services in the snap of a finger... boy does she know...


_**Single Parents**_

Written by: YAJJ

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A/N: This is a really sad story. And… it's the sequel to A Reason to Live! :) I was thinking about this while I was vacuuming, and then it got really sad, and I'm thinking 'Yeah! This is my kinda story!' So yeah. Of course, Kari's not Takato's actual mother, but she is ten years older than him, and she has to raise him since she's twenty-two and doesn't have to be in an orphanage. The more you read the sadder- or maybe worse… *shrugs*- it gets, because these guys can't have an easy life.

BTW: Kari runs the bakery, but unfortunately it isn't enough to support Takato and herself, so they constantly have to assure the Social Services workers that everything's okay. They keep threatening to take poor Takato away! D: That's basically what happens. Except more. Yeah…

----------------

Takato stretched his arms once he woke up, yawning. He was twelve years old, almost his entire family was killed over six years ago. His sister had moved them to Shinjuku two years ago, where he seemed to fit in fairly well. He glanced around his almost closet-sized, empty room, thankful that he was still there to enjoy its presence.

"Good morning Takatomon!" exclaimed his cheerful little partner, who didn't seem to mind not being fed every day. At least, not anymore. "Good morning Gigimon. What time is it?" he asked. "Almost five in the morning!" Gigimon exclaimed. Takato cocked an eyebrow at his partner. "Good. Maybe I can catch Kari before she starts work!" he said, hopping out of bed, opening his door, and dashing out. He bumped into his sister, knocking her over and falling over himself.

"Whoa kiddo!" Kari exclaimed, laughing as she caught herself before she could have fallen down the nearby stairs.

Takato rubbed his head, blushing lightly. "I'm sorry nee-san." He said, smiling at her.

"It's fine. That was fun. Just watch what you're doing, alright?" Kari assured. "What were you in a rush for?" she asked him, standing and then pulling her little brother to his feet. "Just wanted to see you before you started to work." Takato told her innocently.

Kari smiled at him, still unable to believe that even six years later he was as sweet as he was. "I was just about to get started. Do you want to help me?" she asked him. Takato nodded. "Okay, go get dressed. Then we'll get started."

Takato smiled. "Okay, I will. See you in a bit." He said. He hugged her quick, and rushed back into his room. "Back already?" Gigimon asked him. "Naw, I'm gonna help her." Takato replied, slipping out of his thin yellow pj shirt and throwing his favorite blue shirt over his head and settling it onto his upper body. He quickly changed from his yellow ripping pajama pants and into khaki pants from three years ago that went halfway to his knees. He slipped on a pair of socks and ratty green tennis shoes as well. He was then out of his room and down the stairs in a second.

"…Whoa! Oh, hey kiddo. You're awful fast." Kari said, smiling as she kneaded some dough.

Takato grinned at her. "Who'd you think it was?" he asked, knowing full well what this would come to. "Santa Claus." "Oh yeah I'm sure." "I'm very serious." "So am I." "You know… I had a weird dream a while ago. Have you ever had a dream where the good guy was the bad guy? It was weird. Did you know that it was actually _Santa Claus_ that did it to our family?!" Kari asked Takato, giving him a serious look. "Are you sure, nee-san? Last Easter you told me it was the Easter Bunny." "No, he killed TK. Get it right otouto, geez!" Kari exclaimed. She smiled at him, and then laughed. "Come on… keep up on this stuff." Takato frowned. "Nee-san…" "I'm alright I'm alright. Don't worry about it." Kari quickly said, covering her mouth with one hand and his with the other. Takato smiled lightly. "Alright. Sure. Whatever." He said, turning back to the counter and kneading the dough that Kari had let him help with.

Kari wiped away the few tears that were forming. She smiled down at Takato as he worked diligently, and opened her mouth to speak. "What are you going to do today? Got any tests at school today?" she asked.

"Nothing. It's supposed to boring, that's what Ms. Isaji said." Takato replied. Kari frowned. "How boring."

Takato laughed. "I know, right?" he exclaimed. He shook his head, smiling lightly. "Can I go over and spend the night at Henry's tonight? He invited me yesterday and I forgot about it yesterday and… is it okay or are the Social Services coming today?" he asked, slightly nervous.

"That's fine. But you have to come home early tomorrow morning, like be home by nine, because I'll need help cleaning up and they're coming at ten." Kari replied. She looked her brother right in the eyes. "And make sure you get something good to eat. Lord knows you haven't had anything good in a while. Just stale bread and… whatever else I could manage to afford." She said, sighing. "But what about you? You couldn't get much skinnier if you tried." Takato countered.

"Yeah, except that I don't need it anymore. I'm not growing. You're only twelve; you still have a long way to go before you're grown up." Kari told him, slightly scolding for not thinking of that himself when in truth Takato had but didn't want to sound selfish; certainly not in front of the sister that works herself out of sleep every night just to feed the both of them and pay the bills that are for things that they don't even use but it had been decided would be set up just so the government could get more money.

Takato sighed. "What do you think?" he suddenly asked, looking up at the ceiling when Kari took the kneaded dough and started to mold it to look like something edible.

"Well… I had a weird dream a while ago. Have you ever had a dre-" "I heard about that. No, about nii-chan and otou-san and okaa-sama. Do you think they're happy?" Takato asked, staring down at his fingernails.

"…No. I know that they're not. Knowing Tai, he's probably ranting to everyone up there that we should be able to enjoy our lives, and how he should be down here paying the bills instead of me, and Mom's getting stressed about him and us because you know how protective _she _was, and then of course Dad's getting worked up about Tai and Mom and you know since he's our Dad he at least thinks he should be taking care of you because you're a minor and it's his duty." Kari told her little brother none too cheerily. "That's what I know."

"…Oh…" "Yup…"

After that, the siblings worked in silence, all the way up until seven, when Takato had start on his way to school. Kari rubbed the back of his neck before he could leave, and pulled him back, kissing his forehead. "Goodbye sweetheart. See you later." Takato sighed once the bell for the front door rang, signaling the first customer of the day. "Yeah, I'll see you later… Mom."

* * *

Yeah! If you liked A Reason to Live, then you'll like this more, I'm hoping. Trust me, this is going to get really sad, adn maybe a bit confusing. Next chapter, Takato goes over to Henry's and is forced to explain why Kari's in the position she is, and about his life. Trust me, it'll be pretty good. I hope you like it!

With love...

YAJJ


End file.
